In spite of bitter criticism, Miss Pakistan World Pageant contestants’ cat walked to win the title of Miss Pakistan Worldwide. The calls of the community to cancel or postpone the event in the holy month of Ramadan and in the wake of deaths of over 1,500 Pakistanis in floods were rejected by the organizers of the pageant.

Annie Rupani - Winner of Miss Pakistan Worldwide,

No wonder the turnout was extremely low.

Naira Malik - 1st runners up with Barira Lateef - 2nd runners up

The organizers report that the number of people who attended the event was about 350. The Toronto Star reported that there were only about 200 or so attendees. Ms. Sonia Ahmad, President of Miss Pakistan World, alleged the Star reporter to be “biased” and that “they [The Star] have their own agenda.”

With a red carpet entrance, dazzling cocktail hour, and stunning stage set provided by Dream Party Decor, patrons were “Wowed” right from the very beginning. The 16 contestants began the evening with a high-energy dance sequence that captivated the audience and kept them in their seats for the remainder of the evening.

Anokhi, 1st runners up

Maaza Jan, 2nd runners up

It was a night of entertainment, prestige and glamour all rolled up into one; the 20th annual MISS INDIA-CANADA Event had it all! The sold out show was proudly supported by Rogers. The event was truly a memorable experience that those present will remember for years to come. Other sponsors included India Tourism, Om Financial, Cuisine of India Catering, Bigen Speedy Hair Colour, and Airliners, to name a few.

Organizers, Sanjay Agnihotri and Gautam Sharma were then called upon to say a few words and then presented Bollywood Star, Suniel Shetty with the Special Achievement Award.

Youth are Not Future, they’re Shaping Our Present – Amit Gupta, Co Chair of ABC Youth

Youth has a lot of potential and has so much to offer in terms of ideas and opinions, however they are not taken seriously.

This was the main motivation of the organizers of South Asian Youth conference was to gather the youth over the weekend at Hill Tree.

Amit Gupta-Co-Chair of ABC Youth

“Generally we find that there is a disconnect between what we do as community organization and youth..we want more participation from youth,” says Mr. Amit Gupta, Co-Chair of ABC Youth.

Meera Gupta-Co-Chair of ABC Youth

“Youth can come out and tell us what they want. Usually it’s always the parents’ function, and youth is sitting on the side, saying when are we going home,” adds Ms. Meera Gupta, Co- Chair of ABC Youth when asked why they have organized such a conference.

But who do we call youth. United Nations terms individuals between the ages of 15 – 24 as youth. We, at Generation Next, define youth as people between the ages of 15 – 40. And the organizers of the youth conference struggled with the questions. Eventually they decided for the purpose of this conference, youth are people between the ages of “ 14 – 30.”

The wider age range was also chosen for the younger group to learn from those who have finished college and are starting to work in professional environment.  “We’re also giving them a chance to network,” says Ms. Meera Gupta.

The need for having a South Asian Youth Conference was also felt because “youth need to interact more with parents and understand parents’ perspective. Youth have a lot to offer..but we weren’t able to tap into youth’s talent,” says Ms. Mini Gupta, one of the delegates of South Asian Youth Conference.

“Youth are the present. They’re shaping the present,” emphasizes Mr. Gupta who still considers himself youth at the age of 40.

Another aim of the conference was to address the generation gap “which is not from kids’ side, but from parents’ side,” says Ms. Mini Gupta.

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More than 100 youth between the ages of 14 and 30 attended the youth conference. The organizers had invited a variety of motivational speakers from different backgrounds. Our chat with them is as follows:

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Contribute to all aspects of Canadian life and society, including Canadian army – Professor Sandeep Agarwal, Ryerson University

Speaking about the strengths and weaknesses of South Asian youth, Dr. Agarwal says “South Asian youth are very talented very skillful.” A part of the reason [of youth’s success] is the first generation parents who have a lot of attachment with the countries of origin but who also emphasize education. “This country is ours now,”, he says. We’ll have to serve on different aspects of Canadian life and society, so there should be South Asians serving in Canadian army – “mind you, we have to defend this country.” There is very little volunteerism in South Asian community and it’s different from the traditional Canadian volunteerism. The Canadian volunteerism is about “broader goals and broader society whether it’s about environmentalism or something else. South Asians’ volunteerism is limited to our community and our place of worship.”

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Young men should seek assistance if they’ve depression – Lenin Sivam

Speaking of controversial themes of his movies, Lenin Sivam, says “I do make movies [on subjects] that bother me.” It’s his way of venting out his frustration. Mr. Sivam has made movies on arranged marriages, issues with arranged marriage, stigma associated with male depression and so on. He says South Asian culture is such that it does not allow men to be very expressive or to cry as “it’s something girls do.” But young South Asian men should seek medical assistance if their performance levels are dropping and they are not able to concentrate on their work.

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Keep Thinking of New Ways of Doing Things – Sandeep Goel, VP at ICICI bank

The realization that you’re not ready for university after high school or for work after university, can help you learn, says Mr. Goel.  “And there’re a lot of helping hands available to you.”In his presentation, Mr. Goel urged youth to never stop dreaming. To be successful, he advises “keep thinking of new ways.” The whole notion of work place has changed as bosses and subordinates can be miles away from where you are, he says. Also “expectations” of employers are very different from eomplyees. Nonetheless, he believes opportunities for youth to find work are endless.

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Youth don’t have money but they don’t have obligations either – Kundan Joshi, VP of ICCC

Youth are in perfect stage of life to get head start in entrepreneurship. “They don’t have money, but youth don’t have any obligations either. They’ve more motivation and lesser commitments,” says Kundan Joshi,  VP of Indo Canada Chamber of Commerce. He concedes that “youth are not taken seriously enough.” Getting the banks to finance your goals is extremely hard. He feels that support that entrepreneurs get from Canada is great when compared to India or any other third world country.

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Overcome FEAR – False Expectations Appearing Real – Venki Raman – Associate Vice President at CIBC

In response to a question that not enough South Asians get to policy making positions in corporate Canada, Mr. Venki Raman, an Associate VP at CIBC, says “we’ve a number of immigrants who are in executive positions and are leaders like me. We’ve senior people, senior than me who are presidents at CIBC.”

Mr. Raman is a motivational speaker who is also writing a book titled “Progress to Peak Performance.” In his presentation, Mr. Raman urged the youth to gain control of their lives and to stop procrastinating. He gave new meaning to FEAR – False Expectations Appearing Real and advised them to overcome this fear.

Highlights of Pakistan Independence Day at Queens Park on August 14th

Pakistani-Consul-General Sahebzada Khan hositing falg at Queens Park on August 14th

MPP Dr.Shafiq Qaadri (Etobicoke North) with his kids

MP Yasmin Ratansi (Don Valley East)

Conservative Senator Salma Ataullahjan

Khalid Usman, candidate for Ward 6 of Markham Town Council

At the occasion of Pakistan Independence Day, Canadian Association of Pakistani Origin (CAPO) organized a gala dinner attended by the known members of the community. On the occasion, Pakistani Consul General Mr. Sahebzada Khan noted the tragedy facing many Pakistanis with devastation caused by floods. CAPO has raised funds for flood victims of Pakistan in alliance with ISNA. The audience remained silent for two minutes for flood victims and those who had died in air plane crash in the mountains of Islamabad. At the event, Flemington Community Services’ Executive Director Margery Healy and IDRF’s Executive Director Ms. Mona also addressed the crowd.

MP Rob Oliphant in shalwar kameez with CAPO youth members

Ms.Nawal Atiq, President of CAPO

Ontario Minister Eric Hoskins with CAPO executive member

Pakistani Consul General with Mazhar Shafiq and others

On Sunday while clouds thundered and heavy drops of rain rushed down Mississauga, Hindu Federation along with the City of Mississauga held India Heritage Festival. The President of Hindu Federation Pandit Roopnauth Sharma thanked the guests for coming. He said it is important to educate Indian culture to those who are removed from culture or are not aware of great Indian heritage and religion. He congratulated MP Navdeep Bains (Mississauga Brampton South) for having a new baby daughter and joked when MPP Bob Delaney (Mississauga Streetsville) was announced on stage about his marriage to Hindu young lady from Guyana. Pandit Sharma introduced members from other mandirs of the GTA by inviting them on the stage. Ms. Rebecca Prasad,  Representative Hindu Heritage Centre, Harry Prashad, Representative Radha Krishna Mandir Cambridge, Lyn Maharaj, Representative Radha Krishna Mandir Cambridge, Nilesh Mehta, Representative  BAPS Shree Swaminarayan Mandir, Sher Motwani, President Gur Mandir, Teekah Ramnauth, President Datta Yoga Centre, Amarnath Binda,  President Devi Mandir, Vishnu Sookar, CEO Devi Mandir had been present at the event.

From L – R: Navdeep Bains Liberal MP Mississauga Brampton South, Rebecca Prasad Representative Hindu Heritage Centre, Harry Prashad Representative Radha Krishna Mandir Cambridge, Lyn Maharaj Representative Radha Krishna Mandir Cambridge, Nilesh Mehta Representative BAPS Shree Swaminarayan Mandir, Sher Motwani President Gur Mandir, Teekah Ramnauth President Datta Yoga Centre, Amarnath Binda President Devi Mandir, Vishnu Sookar CEO Devi Mandir, Bob Delaney Liberal MPP Mississauga Streetsville, Pandit Roopnauth Sharma President Hindu Federation & Mississauga Ram Mandir

More than 700 people gathered on Saturday morning to gather at Dundas Square to celebrate 63^rd Indian Independence Day with pride and pomp. The day started off with melodious patriotic songs where one could see old moving with the beat. Panorama India, now in its 11th year, had organized a spectacular India Day event that featured a Parade boasting nearly a dozen floats representing various states of India. The cultural program opened with Patriotic Songs.  The parade which took over two hours to traverse the 2 km route was met with waving supporters throughout the route.  Float participants were enthusiastic and danced on the floats and on the street as they marched along.

Singing anthem after flag hositing

Mrs. Saran unveils Panorama India Magazine

MPP-Dr.Kathleen Wynne (Don Valley West), Minister Harinder Takhar and Minister Margarett Best

But of course, the highlight of the day was a short appearance of the famous Bollywood star Akshay Kumar, who is also Canada’s ambassador of tourism.

Just before the flag hoisting, ex-servicemen of Indian army were paid gratitude for their services to india.

After flag hoisting of tri-coloured Indian flag in the presence of Ontario Ministers Margaret Best, clad in embroided almond coloured shalwar kameez, Kathleen Wynne dressed in white kameez and pajama and Harinder Takhar, and MPs John McKay dressed in kurti and pants and MP Kristy Duncan who was wearing sky coloured pajama kameez, Indian Consul General in Toronto, Mrs. Preeti Saran, highlighted Commonwealth Games and the Year of India in Canada. Commonwealth games are to take place in New Delhi in October. Indian government has worked hard in building infrastructure that will accommodate its internationals guests and boast of diversity in Indian culture and traditions. Mrs. Preeti also spoke about the Year of India in Canada next year where throughout the year India’s cultures and traditions would be showcased for Canadians to see. She also thanked the Indian community to be “the shining example” of valuing the best of both cultures – Canada and India.

Farzana Bhol, Paonrama and Swar Sadhana Idol

Mr. Ajit Khanna, the Co-Chair of Panorama India, urged the members of Indo-Canadian community to be more proactive and to get involved in the parade for the coming year.

Minister Harinder Takhar said that Ontario is a stronger province because of Indo Canadians’ contributions. MPP Best touted her links to India, saying “My maternal grandmother was from India.” And MPP Kathleen Wynne complimented Panorama India saying that it make Panorama Canada much more beautiful.

Jake Dheer, Rogers Rogers Station Manager of Mississauga, in action

Conservative MP Bob Dechert (Mississauga – Erindale), whiling talking to Generation Next, said India is obviously a huge country but the beauty of India lies in its democratic values. He said that the values of Prime Minister Harper and the Conservative Party are relevant to Indo-Canadians who place high value to family, education and small and medium sized businesses. He also highlighted great and historic learning institutions of India. Talking about the role of youth, he said “Young people are people to embrace education, and the government has many policies to get higher education.”

Liberal MP Kristy Duncan (Etobicoke North) is excited by Commonwealth games and looking forward to visiting New Delhi in October. “People share the [Indian] poetry with me, it’s such an honour,” she said. With 5^th diverse riding in Canada, she told Generation Next that “I get to travel the world in my riding.” “I’ve had a privilege to travel to India” to receive an award for her research in influenza, she told us.

More than 10,000 people saw the day’s festivities and enjoyed the variety of products at the stalls including tasty Indian snacks and meals.

Kala Pillarisetty, the Co-Chair of Panorama India, thanked the sponsors who supported Panorama, the performers, volunteers, and the media for their invaluable contribution towards the success of the event and the audience for attending the event.

On the occasion of celebration of Indian and Pakistani Independence Day over the past weekend, we spoke with some known members of the community. We asked these well known community members why it is important for us to celebrate Indian and Pakistani Independence Day especially when we are Canadians and should be much more zealous about July 1^st, the Canada Day.

While the essence of the responses is the same, the idea was expressed in different ways. Here’re some of the comments for our readers’ interest:

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We’ve nostalgia about India

Generation Next may not know [about Indian heritage] but we may have nostalgia [about our countries of birth]. It’s important to stay in touch with our heritage. Every parent wants to give as much knowledge as they can about [ to their children about] where they came from. There’s incredible amount of pride in people in showcasing their Indian culture [ as was evident from India Day parade].

Ajit Khanna, Co Chair of Panorama India and the organizer of India Day parade at Dundas Square

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To contribute, we preserve our identity

When we live in a multi-cultural society such as Canada, it is especially crucial that we preserve our unique identity so that we may contribute to the vibrant mosaic of cultures that is Canada. India’s Independence Day is a momentous occasion not just for India, but for the entire world as India’s independence struggle has been a message of peace and non-violence for all humanity. Occasions such as the India day offer us an opportunity to celebrate our roots and pass on our ideals and values along with our rich and vibrant heritage onto our children, the future generation.

Kala Pillarisetty, Co Chair of Panorama India and the organizer of India Day parade at Dundas Square

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Pakistan is a mother, Canada is a sweetheart

Pakistan is like a mother and Canada is like a sweetheart. Even when we’re here, we still have ties with Pakistan. There’s nothing wrong with having loyalty with two countries, but if it comes to a choice..Canada comes first. Celebrating Pakistan Day is remembering our loves ones in Pakistan.

Andy Merchant, President of Canada-Pakistan Business Council

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Knowledge of our past will lead to better future

We don’t have a future until you know your past. And our past, our ancestry, our heritage starts from India or Pakistan, our children should know what India and Pakistan was, is; why it got there; how it got where and we have to respect the patriots, their martyr, and that will make us great Canadians of Indian origin, or great Canadians of Pakistani origin.

Jake Dheer, Rogers’ Station Manager in Mississauga

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Canadians celebrate the best ideas, cultures & cuisines

Canada is made up of people from around the world. All our ancestors came from some other country. Canada celebrates the best of every other culture and country. We can pick and choose the best ideas, the best parts of the culture and the best cuisine and celebrate it. India is a very important country of the world because it’s the largest democracy and we need to support democracy around the world.

MP Bob Dechert, Mississauga – Erindale

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Celebration is not nationalistic but cultural

It’s important for us to have connections to the country of our roots. It [Indian Independence Day] helps us to maintain our religion and culture. We should celebrate these events not from a nationalistic a point of view but from heritage point of view. History has proven that whenever we move away from roots, culture is lost. It’s incumbent upon society and society leaders to organize in such a way that we  bring youth back to our culture. If you look at the history, people have always been migrating, but culture and religion has never died. It’s a misnomer to say that youth is running away from culture, they’re running away from it in India.

Pandit Roopnauth Sharma – President Hindu Federation Canada

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Youth is curious to know their roots

We’re here in Canada making Canada our home. It’s extremely important to know where we’ve come from. Eventually you’ll find that our younger generation is curious of knowing their background. [It has become] so important that they want to be recognized as people coming from the motherland India.

Pandit Vishnu Sookar, President of Devi Mandir, Pickering

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Canadian tradition is celebration of cultures

It’s part of Canadian tradition for communities to celebrate their festivals. If you’re keeping your traditions while knowing that Canada comes first, that’s fine. In celebrations [like Pakistani Independence or Indian Independence], we celebrate our ancestry, our background, our ethnicity.

Khalid Usman, candidate for Ward 6 Markham Town Council

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Canada empathizes with others

Canada itself was a colony – a British colony, so it empathizes with other countries [that have been colonized]. Basically independence is a celebration, it has its pains and its pleasures. Canada still is under monarchy so Canadians have a different mentality, so if you have been colonized and if you want to celebrate your independence day, it’s fine, as long as you make an absolute commitment to Canada as your country.

MP Yasmin Ratansi, Don Valley East

India’s National Interests

India’s national interests, simply stated, are as follows :-

• National sovereignty.
• Unity and integrity of the country.
• Democratic and secular polity.
• Economic development.
• Social and economic justice.
• Favourable world order.
• Preservation and promotion of our values.

Our Strategic Vision

By tradition, India has been a peace-loving and responsible nation. It has abjured aggression, espoused the doctrine of ‘Ahimsa’ or non-violence, led the non-aligned group of nations and played a constructive role as a member of the United Nations. \

Aim

The aim of this article is to visualise the likely national security environment in 2020 with special reference to the threats and challenges that may confront us at that time, and arrive at the most appropriate force structure and equipment profile for the Indian Army of 2020.

The Geo-Strategic Environment

Two major events, roughly a decade apart, have played a major role in shaping the current geo-strategic environment. The first being the demise of the Soviet Union. The second was the ‘9-11 Event’ – the 11th September.

2001 terrorist attacks on targets in Washington DC and New York. This impelled the USA to declare ‘War on Terrorism’, and attack Afghanistan and Iraq with a ‘coalition of like-minded countries’, with the purpose of ousting their regimes, which were sponsors of terrorist groups like Al Quaeda and were hostile to the USA. The USA believed that Iraq was in possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

The impact of these two events are now being clearly felt in international affairs and by all indications, appear to be long lasting. We need to take note of the following major ramifications, which are specially relevant to India :-

• The USA has become hegemonic. Her style of diplomacy is increasingly becoming peremptory and coercive.
• The UN has been sidelined by the USA, which, acts at will, ignoring the need for UN’s sanction.
• The USA has adopted the doctrine of ‘Preemptive Military Intervention’. In consonance with this doctrine – threats, whether real and present or, perceived, are not allowed to mature, by use of military force.
• The USA has drawn a list of countries, which are ‘of concern’ to it. Of these, it has dealt with Afghanistan and Iraq. North Korea and Iran await similar treatment by the superpower. Recently, India has voted in favour of a USA backed resolution against Iran possibly to secure military materials, nuclear technology and fuel for civilian purposes. If India resiles from her pro-USA stance in the late November 2005 voting, the USA may deny its expectations. This would amount to dictating India’s foreign policy.

• China is neither amenable to coercion nor susceptible to being ‘contained’. Besides, because North Korea is a protégé of China, the latter has a major role in USA’s dealings with that country. The USA has also economically engaged China, as it provides a large market for US manufactured goods. The USA believes too, that as the USA-China trade gets increasingly intertwined, the likelihood of an armed conflict between the two will correspondingly reduce.
• The European Union, despite reservations on the part of some constituents, is for purposes of realpolitik pro-USA.
• Russia, because of her present economic debility, is supporting the USA or, at least, not opposing her. It may become more independent in its attitude as its economy recovers, a process that has already begun.
• Pakistan is a ‘major non-NATO ally’ of the USA and also its frontline state for the ‘War on Terrorism’. The US has troops and aircraft on Pakistan’s soil. It has been permitted to set up bases in return for huge subventions and to bail out Pakistan from the brink of a near-collapse economic situation. In effect, Pakistan has become a client state of the USA with a less than independent foreign policy.
• Terrorism, religious fundamentalism, nuclear and missile technology proliferation are pressing concerns for the US. It believes that these could ultimately pose danger to its ‘homeland’, something about which the USA is hypersensitive, or, even paranoid.

India’s Internal Security Environment, 2020

India is a rapidly developing country with a GDP growth of seven percent.  It has a huge reserve of technical manpower and strong liberal political culture, a youthful population more than half of which will be below 30 years of age in 2020.  It also has strong and apolitical armed forces. Our present concerns, which may persist in future are as under:-

• The present rate of population growth is 1.6 percent. It is imperative to bring it down to one percent by 2020-2025.
• The political culture in the country has deteriorated over the years. Communalism, sectarianism, regional parochialism, and sub-nationalism are on the rise. There is growing criminalisation of politics and a culture of ‘vote banks’ has taken root. Politicisation of the bureaucracy and the police, is well-established. The Armed Forces have, so far, been able to remain insulated from politics. Unless these evils are overcome, in 2020, we may have a nation whose internal security environment will be extremely unhealthy.
• Distributive justice with regard to sharing of revenues and the fruits of development is an imperative, if radical left movements, currently active in the country, are to be eliminated by 2015 or so.
• The separatist movements in the North-East and J & K must be amicably resolved.
• Black money and drug trafficking must be put to an end as they not only ruin the economy but also corrupt the youth.

Attention to the above areas of concern will enable India to achieve desired internal security by 2020. Let us now identify the threats and challenges India is likely to face in 2020.

Challenges. Apart from military threats, a number of non-military challenges may have to be faced by our Army in the 2020 time frame. These are as follows: -

• Human resources of appropriate quality may get drawn to the more lucrative civilian sector. The terms and conditions of service and satisfaction levels of personnel, must be made more attractive. We should also enroll more short service personnel than regular cadres to reduce pension liabilities and for better career management of officers.
• Funds allotted to the Armed Forces should be sustained at a level of three per cent of GDP for at least 12 to 15 years so as to ensure requisite modernisation and making good existing shortfalls.
• Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) must be upgraded qualitatively and top quality scientists should be inducted into it. Rightfully, their expectations of pay and research facilities will be high. These must be met.
• Private sector participation in defence R & D and development of complete systems by them, must be facilitated. Government should fund their defence research projects and give them guarantees of sizeable orders to encourage their partnership with the DRDO.
• Scientific and technical manpower will be eagerly sought by other countries. To overcome this ‘brain-drain’, we should improve the working conditions and research facilities in our country.
• The IT driven revolution in military affairs requires that the Army ‘manages’ these changes in a systematic and smooth manner. We need to create an integrated force working in an ‘unified battle space’; seamless communications; extensive exploitation of IT with excellent ‘cyber security’; top quality space based and terrestrial surveillance systems and fully operationalised C4I2 systems. This convergence of various technologies and capabilities will bestow the forces with much enhanced force-multiplier benefits through Network Centric Warfare (NCW). We have a long way to go in this regard.

• Internal contingencies of various types could retard or block the Army’s effort to achieve optimal development in the next 15 years. We need to be prepared with suitable contingency plans to overcome these ‘drag’ factors.

Doctrinal Changes

The following doctrinal changes/refinements are suggested for the Army in 2020: -

• Through superlative preparedness deter any country from engaging us in war.
• Every war in the future, must be fought in an integrated manner.
• Every war must be won with the fewest casualties and cost to us.
• Attack all the enemy’s vulnerabilities, all at one time if possible, and create an adverse impact on his will to fight.
• Manoeuvre versus Attrition. Attrition involves heavy costs to the attacker, manoeuvre places the attackers at a relative advantage over the defender. Even in the mountains, it is only by manoeuvre that the formidable, fixed defences can be captured with the minimum cost to us. Aggressive use of airborne and heliborne/heli-landed troops in conjunction with unorthodox employment of tanks and ICVs after heavy bombardment, will enable manoeuvre in mountains.
• Leadership. Despite the vast inventory of high-tech machines and instruments available to the Army and the better educated soldier of 2020, good leaders will always be prized.

Conclusion

There is no mathematical exactness about when events will transpire and whether certain aspects we have assumed as being constant will actually be so or will alter radically, putting our prognosis into error. Notwithstanding this, a few points cannot be disputed. These are: India is progressing rapidly as an economic power; its natural endowments like strategic location, rich mineral resources and a large, industrious and hardy population, befit her for great power status. Its Army is large, disciplined, battle tested and renowned throughout the world for its professional quality. Such an army should be upgraded further in quality to serve India of 2020, in a befitting manner.

Source: http://www.indiandefencereview.com/2008/01/indian-army-2020.html

For a Canadian-born desi, I have the challenge of straddling two cultures and traditions, while juggling a handful of languages – as do all Canadian-born desis. But the beauty is that we get to celebrate Canada Day on July 1, then celebrate the independence days of Pakistan and India on August 14 and 15.

My parents left India in 1976 and decided to make Canada their new home. It must have been a tough decision – to leave behind their family, friends, and the familiar and embark on an adventure with unknown questions mounting, such as: will we succeed in Canada and can we make a better life for our children?

I’m happy to report that they did well over the past 34 years and my sisters, brother and I turned out to be successful, independent, productive and well-adjusted citizens.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah

And just like India and Pakistan being carved into two new nation-states in South Asia in 1947, they turned out to be successful and productive countries, too. Their birth was one of the bloodiest in history with the largest mass migration of people.

However, we’re not just celebrating the independence of India and Pakistan, but the accomplishments they have achieved. In just 63 years, both countries have come a long way. India is the largest democracy in the world with the fastest growing economy and market. It is also an example of multiculturalism, with so many diverse religions, languages, cultures and traditions co-existing together.

Mahatma Gandhi

I haven’t had the privilege of traveling to Pakistan yet – but I am assured it is a beautiful country. I know that before partition, my family had roots in Pakistan. But that part of our family history is long forgotten, especially with the recent passing of my grandmother, who carried our history in her memory. I now regret never listening to her stories carefully and documenting it all for future reference.

Dr.Allama Iqbal

For those, like me, who identify themselves as Indo-Canadians or South Asians, we’re proud of the strides India and Pakistan has made. Successive Canadian governments have been wooing India and trying to establish deeper connections and relations.

Jawahar Lal Nehru

In the coming months, India will host the Commonwealth Games and have an opportunity to showcase its beauty, magnificence and ability to rise to even greater heights.

As we celebrate the 63rd anniversary of Pakistan and India’s independence, let’s also reflect on their accomplishments and wish both continued success.

Author:Rupinder Kaur